You Never Know What Might Happen
by JadedAttitude143
Summary: It's been a year since the lock-in, where Sam kissed Freddie. Now, it's coming around again, and Sam, Carly, and Freddie are doing a project together. What happens when Sam and Freddie re-visit the site of their kiss? Will old feelings arise? Seddie. T because I'm paranoid.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly.**

**Author: JadedAttitude143**

**Rating: T**

**Title: You Never Know What Might Happen**

**Summary: It's been a year since the lock-in, where Sam kissed Freddie. Now, it's coming around again, and Sam, Carly, and Freddie are doing a project together. What happens when Sam and Freddie re-visit the site of their kiss? Will old feelings arise? Seddie.**

**Pairing: Sam/Freddie**

**Chapter's Word Count: 1,307**

"School is stupid, so I hate school, I hate it like I hate Freddie, school is stupid," mumbled a clearly exhausted Sam as she opened her locker and dug out the books she needed for American History in choppy, sluggish movements.

"Did you get enough sleep last night?" asked Freddie as he approached her locker. He had heard her previous sentence, but his inner-gentleman convinced him to keep his mouth shut. Sam looked tired, she was probably even less aware of her actions than usual.

Sam yawned and leaned against her locker. "I went to bed at…three-ish. Do you want to go get me coffee?"

"Where would I get you coffee?"

"The coffee place."

"Sam, the school doesn't have a coffee place. Why were you up that late, anyways?"

She shrugged. "Couldn't sleep.

"But –"

Freddie's argument was cut off by Carly, who urgently ran towards the pair. "Guys! Guys! They just posted the stuff about the lock-in!" She poked Freddie's arm multiple times and shook Sam's shoulders slightly in her excitement.

"Ugh, who gives a flying fish about the lock-in," said Sam. She frowned as she realized what she had said. "I'm so tired I can't make a decent response! Freddie, coffee…"

"What are the requirements on it?" asked Freddie to Carly, rolling his eyes at Sam.

"Um…it's twenty percent your grade, groups of three or partners, and it has to involve history, science, or math."

"Okay, that sounds pretty simple. What if you and I –"

"And me!" interjected Sam, slapping Freddie's arm to get his attention. "I need to be in a smart group so I don't fail!"

"_And Sam_ do a project about the Fibonacci sequence!"

"What? How 'bout one on the history of Glitter Gloss?"

"Or coffee."

"The Russian Revolution? Bleeding Kansas? The Terra Cotta Army? The War of 1812?"

"Psh, that didn't exist," said Sam, rolling her eyes. "I thought you were smart."

"Sam, the War of 1812 was essential to –"

"I don't care, I just want coffee." She stretched out "coffee," and shook Freddie's arm in an attempt to convince him.

"Okay, we're being stupid," said Carly, grabbing Sam and Freddie's wrists.

"Yeah, we are," agreed Sam, glaring at Freddie, who raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly.

"What did we do last year? Gibby and I did that stimulus chamber, and you and Freddie did the Mood Face app thing with Brad. What do they both have in common?"

"Coffee!"

"They're both psychological-y things. That's what we should do."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's see…We could do something where we hold up images of stuff, and then we use the Mood Face app to see what emotions are surfaced when they think of that," said Freddie thoughtfully.

"Oh, that sounds really good. And it should be pretty simple, too. But we'd have to make sure that they're really relaxed when they take the test thing-y, 'cause it would probably affect how they feel."

"Yeah. Sam, what do you think?"

"I'm fine with that," she said, shrugging her shoulders.

"Cool. I got to go to Pre-Calculus. How 'bout we all work on this during lunch. We can meet in the library," said Freddie.

"Yeah," said Carly and Sam together.

"'Kay, bye."

"Are you alright, Sam?" asked Carly as soon as Freddie was out of earshot.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired," she scoffed, pretending to search through her locker for a missing pencil.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure that you weren't bothered by the lock-in."

"No, why would I be?"

"Well, this is where you and Freddie… y'know…kissed."

"Oh." Sam paused. "Yeah, I'm fine. I mean, we broke up a while ago, we're just friends now."

"Okay, cool. Well, we better get going. Otherwise we're going to be late again for American History," said Carly, clearly not believing a word Sam said.

"Yeah, I don't need to give Mr. Howard another reason to hate me."

XXX

"Okay, so I was thinking we need to do at least thirty people for this," said Freddie, sitting in one of the library's hard, plastic chairs and opening up a notebook.

"Alright," said Sam, sitting next to him and propping her feet up on the convenient table. "Should we do different ages and different backgrounds or just one age demographic?"

Freddie stared at her in surprise for a second before answering. "Well, it'd probably be easiest to shoot for one demographic, and it would make our research more valid. If we do all teenagers, we would be able to get it done pretty quickly and our results would be more applicable. And, we could do most of them at the lock-in."

"Okay," agreed Carly, scribbling something down in Freddie's notebook in a messy, scrawling handwriting with i's dotted with hearts. "We only need like five pictures to show them. What should they be of?"

"Um, if we do only Ridgeway students, we could do a couple of places here," suggested Freddie.

"Right. And even just random objects can bring out different emotions in people. Like, let's say we do the cafeteria here, a computer, a bottle of water, a shoe, an elevator, and a cup of coffee!" Sam yelled the words "cup of coffee" right in Freddie's ear.

"Sam, shut up, you're in the library!" Freddie hissed. "And anyways, I just thought of something else. We shouldn't just find their emotions, we should ask what they associate each item with. It would give us more logic behind our project. Like, for the glass of water, they might associate it with a sport, or with homework, or –"

"Who associates water with homework?" interjected Sam.

"I don't know, I'm just tossing random ideas around. Just go with it."

"Okay," said Carly hastily, interrupting what could have easily become a fight, "I think we got a pretty good basic outline. I'll get the pictures that we need, Sam will make a list of the people we need to blackmail into doing this, and Freddie will get the geeky technology together."

"Wait, we need to get our project approved," said Freddie.

"Oh, right. Well, I can't do it. I've got a Student Council meeting right after school, and I can't miss it." Carly looked down at the table as she spoke, her face slowly growing red.

"Since when were you in Student Council?"

"I'm not, but this really cute guy named Mark is."

"Stalker," Sam fake-sneezed.

"Oh, whatever. Can you two go get it approved?"

"Without killing each other? I dunno Carls, that might be a challenge."

"We'll do it," said Freddie, tugging on Sam's elbow. "In fact, we'll do it right now. Who do we have to talk to?"

"Ms. Briggs."

They both shuddered.

"Can't Freddie go by himself?"

"Come on, Sam." He grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the library.

"Freddie, she hates me. There's no way we'll get the idea approved. We might as well accept our F's now."

Freddie looked at her for a long moment. She widened her eyes and tilted her head slightly, as if that would aid her argument. "Fine," he sighed. "You go ahead to lunch and I'll tell her myself."

"Really?" Sam's voice was dubious, as if she expected a trick.

"Sure."

"Yes!" In her excitement, she gave Freddie a kiss on the cheek. "Mama's gonna go buy some coffee!" She began to take off, but then realized their hands were still joined together from when he had dragged her away. _They had walked through the school like that? They must have passed fifty people! What if someone noticed?_ "Um, Freddie." She flushed.

"Oh…" Embarrassed, he quickly let go.

"Bye," she said over her shoulder as she ran through the hallway, nearly knocking a nerdy freshman over.

Freddie shook his head and walked off in the other direction, a slight smile on his face.

**So, this is going to be a 7 or 8 chapters long story. I'm really excited to write this, and I think it will be a fun summer project :) Please leave a review and let me know what you think! If you have any criticisms, please let me know! They're the best way for me to improve! Chapter 2 should be up soon.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own iCarly.**

**Chapter Word Count: 1,123**

There was a rather large mess of wires and technology in the Shay's already untidy apartment on that particular Saturday: A blue Pear Book on the counter with tangled wires hanging out of it was connected to a Pear Pad propped against a couch cushion, where the subject would sit and study the pictures. Next to the Pear Book was another Pear Pad, one that had clearly been dropped numerous times, with the note-taking app open. In one corner of the kitchen, a Pear Pod played "relaxing" classical music for the experiment. Clearly, the Pear Store had excellent customers in the Shay family and their friends.

Freddie sat at the laptop, hurriedly typing data in while Sam watched over his shoulder. Carly held a notebook and pen, and was doodling poorly drawn hearts impatiently. Gibby sat across from one Pear Pad with his eyes closed, humming to himself.

"Okay, Gibby, are you relaxed and ready for this experiment?" asked Carly, fed up with her latest attempt at art.

"Yeah. I was listening to One Direction in my head." Gibby opened his eyes and smiled as if he had been touched by something beautiful, not a run of the mill boy band.

"Oh, God," muttered Carly. Sam laughed. "So, go ahead and study the first picture. What do you associate with it?"

"Cheese."

"Okay…" Carly leaned over Freddie's shoulder to see what emotion the Mood Face app was picking up. _Hunger. _She scribbled it down. "Alright Sam, hand him the next picture."

Sam did accordingly, and Gibby frowned at the image. "Um…I'm thinking of football."

"Good." _Anger. _"Next one."

"Trees, I guess." Gibby made a face at it.

_Confusion. _"Okay, two more."

"Glitter Gloss."

_Happiness. _"Last one."

"Hmm…it's making me think of liquid soap.

"Of course." _In love. _"Okay, you're all done. Thanks for helping out, Gibby."

"Yeah, no problem. I've gotta get going, though. Guppy and I are going to work on my project."

"What are you doing?" asked Freddie.

"I'm doing this thing where I find out how tall the Space Needle is, and then I determine how many ladders it would take to climb up it."

"Ooh, that's a big undertaking that completely makes sense. I'm sure it will have a large impact on Seattle's scientific community," said Sam sarcastically.

"I know. I think Mrs. Briggs will be really impressed," said Gibby, the insult going completely over his head.

"Mhm. Bye, Gibby."

"He's so messed up," said Carly as the door shut behind him.

"I know, but it's pretty funny to watch, you gotta admit."

"Yeah…So, now we've got eight people done. Twenty-two to go!"

"Whoo," said Sam, rolling her eyes. "Is there anything else we can do on this today? I plan on sleeping for most of the lock-in, so I want to get as much as we can done now so you can't make me feel guilty."

"Not really," answered Freddie. "I'm gonna copy Gibby's results into the computer, and then we're just about done."

"I'm gonna get going, then. My mom wants me to meet her new boyfriend. We're going to a chicken place for dinner, and I really don't want to be late for that."

Freddie chuckled. "Bye, Sam. See you tomorrow."

"Have fun," added Carly.

Freddie smiled as she left. "You know, I'm really impressed by how nice she's been."

Carly raised an eyebrow and folded her arms across her chest. "Hm. Are you?"

"Yeah, she's been polite, helpful, considerate…" Freddie spoke with a faint smile on his face, almost as if he was reminiscing.

"Didn't that use to bug you?"

"Why would Sam acting decent bug me?"

"Well, the last time she was nice and helpful while doing schoolwork, you know what happened." Carly poked his elbow and smirked slightly to emphasize her meaning.

"Oh." Freddie fell silent and stared at his Pear Pad, tracing circles absently on the screen. It still had the record of Sam's "In love" mood. "Um…wow." He sighed. "But…I don't think that means anything. I mean, we're in senior year, I think she just wants a good grade to boost her average."

"Right, right…so, it's not awkward for you two?" Carly knew she was prying deep into her friends' lives, but she was curious, and she felt as if she had a right to know after putting up with all of their bickering over the course of the past six or so years.

"Why would it be awkward? I mean, we're just friends. We completely forgot about the um, relationship we had."

"Really? You completely forgot? So you can't tell me anything about what it was like dating Sam? Anything? Not what it was like kissing her, or where you went on dates, or how much you liked her hair – don't give me that look, you were always playing with it – or all of the fun you had together? Anything?"

Freddie squirmed in obvious discomfort. "Well, I mean, I remember some things about our relationship, of course, but it's not at all relevant to our friendship now. And anyways, why are you bringing this up?"

"I was just wondering. I mean, you guys kissed nearly a year ago, and I was wondering if…I dunno, if any slight feelings had resurfaced because of the lock-in. You know what I mean?"

"Somewhat." A suspicion was slowly growing within Freddie. "Carly, you're not jealous, are you?" He asked gently, putting a hand lightly on her wrist

"What? No!" Carly shot up from her seat in shock and withdrew her hand. "Why on earth would you ever think that I was jealous of anything that happened between you and Sam? I was your biggest supporter! I helped you two get together! I was the one who put the Seddie fans on the webcam in the mental hospital! I –"

"Okay, you're not jealous," said Freddie in a small voice, but Carly did not hear him.

"-broke up all your fights. I kept you together after that N.E.R.D. fiasco. I-"

"Carly!" shouted Freddie.

"I'm not jealous!"

"I know, I believe you! I'm sorry I thought you were jealous."

"Oh, okay. Good. So… you're friends? Or do you hate her? Or what?"

"What? I don't know…I mean, I'm pretty sure we're friends. I definitely don't hate her, we all grew past that nonsense. I don't really know, Carly."

"Okay…I was just wondering…y'know, the last time you said that you hated her it turned out you were in love with her. So, I guess if you don't really hate her now it means all of your feelings are gone."

"Sure, let's use that logic." Freddie shook his head and began gathering up his supplies.

"So…"

"So, I gotta get going."

"Okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, bye."

**Wow! I was really surprised that the first chapter got as many reviews as it did! Thank you so much to seddie perfection, OneHUGEVirginia, nadene-seddiefan, irishfan62, Invader Johnny, Geekquality, vyctoria, and alex02 for making that happen!:) Also, thanks for all of the favorites and alerts that I received! I know this chapter is pretty short, but it's setting up for some pretty big things. Please leave a review letting me know what you thought of this!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly.**

**Chapter Word Count: 1, 294**

"Spencer! We need to go, _now," _said Carly, pounding loudly and urgently on his bedroom door impatiently. "If we don't leave now, I'll be late to the lock-in, and then I won't be able to get inside the school. Then I'll get an F on my project 'cause I can't trust Sam and Freddie to finish it themselves, and I'll have to repeat 12th grade. Then, when I apply for colleges at age _nineteen, _no one will accept me 'cause I'll seem like an idiot. And then, I'll be forced to –"

"I'm here, I'm here!" exclaimed Spencer as the door opened and a large blue, white, pink, green, and yellow ball and a sliver of Spencer's head appeared. He pushed it out of his bedroom slowly. "Help me with this sculpture, it's really heavy."

"Why do I even have to come with you to deliver this?" asked Carly as she surveyed the odd scene, torn between frustration and laughter.

"Because the person who bought it hates me because I nearly set his rug on fire, but he likes you because of your goody two shoes-ness, so he might pay me more if he sees you accompanying me."

Carly rolled her eyes but began pushing the ball with Spencer, through the narrow hallway and down the short steps of their apartment. "How are we going to get this in your car?"

Spencer paused and eyed the large, two-hundred pound sculpture in horror. "I did not think of that…"

XXX

Sam's phone vibrated with a text when she was halfway to Bushwell. She read:** Hey, can you and Freddie break into my apartment and get the stuff we need for the lock-in? Spencer and I are delivering a sculpture and it's really heavy and we're running late because he doesn't know how to plan ahead. –Carly**

Sam chuckled and quickly responded with a brief "Yeah." She had seen the sculpture yesterday while Spencer was putting a finishing coat of paint on it, and knew it would be a pain to take it anywhere. It was nearly five feet tall, with multicolored globs of paint and a textured surface. Poor Carly was probably on the brink of running Spencer over with its tremendous weight.

Sam rushed to Carly's apartment, as she realized she could no longer rely on Spencer for a ride to Ridgeway and actually needed to be on time, and she soon found herself crouched by the Shay's door, using the bobby pin she kept in the potted plant nearby to open it. She was deep in concentration, until a voice interrupted her (technically) illegal work. "Sam?"

"What?" she snapped, unaware of whom she was talking to. Sam turned her head around to find a confused Freddie clutching his laptop and wearing a look of mingling surprise, puzzlement, and amusement.

"Why're you picking Carly's lock? You know she always keeps it unlocked when they're home." Freddie took a step closer to the door and jiggled the knob, only to find that it was indeed locked.

"Her and Spencer have to deliver a sculpture, genius, and she told me to pick the lock and get the stuff we need for the lock-in 'cause she's gonna be late."

"Oh." Freddie knelt next to her and curiously watched her calloused hands manipulate the bobby pin. "Well, do you need help?"

"No," scoffed Sam. She took out the bobby pin, tugged on the doorknob once, and smirked as it opened smoothly to reveal the Shay's darkened apartment. "I know what I'm doing." She walked inside casually and flicked the lights on. "What do we need to get?"

"Chargers, Pear Pads, Carly's notebook, the pictures…" Freddie began ticking items off from memory and Sam went around the apartment, gathering them up carelessly in her red backpack.

"Okay, is that it?" she asked as she slung the bag around her shoulders, not minding the expensive equipment that was jostled by her motions.

"Yeah, I think so. Are we gonna walk to Ridgeway, then?"

"Is your mom not home? Can't she drive us?"

"No, she took our car with her to the hospital. She's got a double shift today."

"Ugh, I don't feel like walking, though."

"Too bad. Besides, it's only eight blocks. And it's a pretty day, the sun actually decided to show its face."

"I know. I just don't want to have to deal with eight blocks of your dorky company." Sam poked his arm, laughed, and walked out of the apartment as Freddie rolled his eyes and followed.

"That's very mature, Sam," said Freddie as he caught up to her and hit the down button on the elevator.

"Mhm. So, what are we gonna do tonight? I mean, it's only going to take us an hour or so to finish testing people, and Carly's almost done with the poster for our presentation. All we have to do is glue on the results and we're done." The elevator arrived with a cheerful "Ding!" and they stepped in, both slouching against the wall.

"Yeah…wow, I guess that means we get to relax."

"That's crazy, no one gets to take it easy at the lock-in. Like, last year, even after I kiss –" Sam abruptly cut herself off and stared at the elevator's stern gray doors, suddenly wishing they would open. She felt Freddie's eyes study her flushing face in bewilderment until he realized what she had been about to mention.

_Oh God, and we're even in an elevator, just like the last time we discussed this, _he thought in slight horror. "Um…" he said, "should we…talk about that?"

Sam chuckled slightly, although she still refused to look him in the eye. "What? Do you mean _that _thing? Is there anything even left to say with that?"

Freddie paused, slightly taken aback. The elevator's doors opened at the lobby and they both stepped off, barely registering their surroundings and Lewbert's shriek of displeasure. A polite part of Freddie managed to remember to hold the door open for Sam, but that was all. "Well, I don't know…things were tense for a while though, y'know, after we broke up, and I just wanted to make sure you know that I don't hate you, at all."

"Me neither," said Sam, finally looking up and offering him a slight smile. "We're friends, aren't we, Benson?" For once, her voice did not have a hint of menace.

"No." Freddie shook his head, although he could not quite remove the smile from his face. "No, we're not."

"What the hell, Freddie?"

"We're best friends, you didn't let me finish!" He said quickly, raising his free left hand in defense.

Sam's anger subsided as quickly as it rose, but she still punched him in the arm lightly. "Don't pull that chizz on me again, Benson."

"Oh, admit it, Sam," said Freddie, extracting his left arm to put it around her shoulder and squeeze her closer to him. "You like it."

"No, I will never confess anything as moronic as that." But despite her words, she leaned slightly closer to him and let a smile pass across her face for a second.

"Sure…"

The conversation drifted to lighter, more casual topics. They talked about the iCarly scheduled for next week and what bits they would perform, Spencer's new girlfriend that he had met at the art supplies store, and the trendy new shoes with six-inch heels that the majority of Ridgeway, including Carly, had tried wearing, before they realized how easy it was to twist one's ankle.

It was simple conversation that reminded each other of the friendship that they could find within themselves. And, because of it, the kiss at the lock-in became further and further removed from their minds.

But that was okay. Carly would fix that.

**Hey! What did you think of Chapter 3? Please leave a review and let me know what you think. Chapter 2 got over 500 hits. Thank you so much for making that happen! Also, thank you to everyone who favorited this story or put it on alert. Special thanks to Invader Johnny, OneHUGEVirginia, XSeddieShipper, seddiejathan1020, irishfan62, alex02, and sharon99118for reviewing! Chapter 4 will be up soon. Once again, please review and let me know what you're thinking so I can improve this story and my writing in general! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly**

**Chapter Word Count: 1, 095**

Carly arrived fifteen minutes late to the lock-in, her hair frizzy and out of place and her makeup streaking down her face due to sweat. She walked through the school in a stony silence, glaring at anyone who dared to make eye contact with her until she reached the biology classroom she, Sam, and Freddie had agreed to work in.

"Hey Carls," said Sam as she looked up from the laptop she had been typing on. She took in her friend's disheveled appearance. "That bad, huh?"

"I'm not talking to Spencer for a while," said Carly in a low voice, sitting down on one of the desks.

Freddie patted her arm sympathetically and then returned to his work on the Pear Pad. The Mood Face app had frozen for some odd reason. "For crying out loud," he muttered under his breath in frustration.

"What's this about Freddie crying?" asked Sam, her voice rising slightly in excitement.

"Ha, funny."

"I try my best."

"Mhm. Who should we test first?"

"I asked Wendy on the way in and she said she'd do it."

"One of you two go get her, I'm not leaving this classroom," said Carly, running her fingers through her hair frantically, although it only made her hair more tangled.

"I'll go," said Freddie. "Sam, could you try to fix this app? I don't know what's wrong with it," he called over his shoulder as he left.

"If I must."

Carly, realizing her hair was a hopeless cause, hopped off her desk and surveyed the room. "What can I do to help?"

"Um, if you want you can work on our poster. I don't trust myself to not damage it severely, and Freddie keeps squawking 'bout fingerprints on it or something every time I get within five feet."

"Okay. So, you and Freddie getting along okay?"

"Yeah, sure." Sam tapped the screen of the Pear Pad rapidly and smirked when the Mood Face app restarted, working properly now.

"No awkwardness 'cause of the lock-in?" asked Carly as she taped a piece of text to the impressive display board.

"Nah. We talked about it a little bit, and we both agreed that there was nothing to worry about with that."

"Wow…it's crazy how we've all grown up. I mean, back when we were thirteen, I couldn't leave you guys alone in a room for five measly minutes, and nowhere we are, with you guys actually discussing feelings and whatnot." She shook her head, a smile stretching across her face.

"Mushy, Carlotta…but I know what you mean."

"It's just so –" But whatever Carly was going to say was cut off by Wendy, who emerged in the room, accompanied by Freddie.

"Hi guys! Carly, your hair looks so pretty today! Sam, are you doing your eyeliner differently? It looks so great! So, what am I going to do? As long as it doesn't involve the exploitation of animals, I'm fine with it." She beamed and looked around eagerly, blind to the trio's looks of annoyance.

"Okay," said Carly, guiding Wendy to a desk's seat. "Are you calm?"

"Mhm!"

"So, Sam's going to hand you photos, and you just have to say what you associate each one with. Then, you look at the Pear Pad so we can record your mood."

"Okay. By the way, did you hear about Lexi Winters and David Anderson? Emma caught them kissing behind the lockers about ten minutes ago. Can you believe that he would do that to Stefanie? I feel so bad for her! Amy was telling me that –"

"Shut up and look at the picture," interrupted Sam, thrusting the first one towards her.

"Oh, right. Um, bean bags."

"Next."

"Peppy Cola."

"Next."

"The New York Yankees."

"Two more."

"A backpack."

"Last one."

"Glittery nail polish."

"Okay, you're all done!"

"Oh yeah, that reminds me. According to Haile Palvoka, Principal Franklin suspended Derek Gacnik for fighting."

This caught Carly's attention. "Really? Why was he fighting?"

"He and Matthew Cox were fighting over his girlfriend, and Derek broke Matthew's nose."

"Oh, God."

"I know. Oh yeah, and did you hear about –"

"Okay, bye Wendy!" interjected Freddie, lightly putting his hands on her shoulders and steering her out of the room.

"Bye, guys! I'll let you know if Stefanie finds out about David!"

"Oh no, there's no need for that," said Carly, but Wendy was already out of hearing range.

"That girl is crazy," said Sam, walking over to the notebook to see what emotions the Mood Face app had picked up on.

"Borderline insane," agreed Carly.

"Belongs in Troubled Waters," added Freddie. "But anyways, it's another test done."

"Yup."

They managed to get through nine more tests, bringing their total count to eighteen, without any other talkative subjects. The majority of the participants were desperate to get back to their projects, which they had put off for far too long. Freddie was concerned it would skewer their results, but Carly and Sam rolled their eyes and waved it off, claiming Ms. Briggs was simply too stupid to care.

Freddie sighed as he finished computing the latest set of results. "We still have twelve to go, and it's nearly midnight."

Sam groaned. "So much for taking a nap 'round two a.m."

"Here, test me," said Carly, grabbing the photos. "I'm relaxed, I'm calm. I haven't had any caffeine yet either, so that won't screw things up."

"M'kay," agreed Sam, activating Mood Face and taking over Carly's position at the notebook. "Go ahead and look at the first one, then."

"Cupcakes," she said immediately.

Freddie elbowed Sam lightly, poorly concealing his laughter at Carly's reaction. Sam smiled and mouthed, "I know."

"Keep going."

"Markers, socks, baseball, and robins."

"Slow down, Carls!"

"You guys were laughing at my reactions!" she said defensively. Carly folded her arms and back over to one corner to the room with a glare on her face.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said Sam jokingly as she approached her and poked her elbow. "You're not mad, right?"

Carly struggled to maintain her angry disposition, but she cracked a grin after a moment. "Of course not. But, unless if you want me to make you feel guilty, you and Freddie have to go get me coffee at the food cart."

"Fine. C'mon, nub."

"Coming, coming." Freddie rolled his eyes fondly. "Hey Carly, can you input the data into the computer?"

"Sure." As Sam and Freddie left the room, she added under her breath, "Great, now they get to frolic through the hallways together while I'm stuck doing work. Genius Carly, just genius."

**Wow! The last chapter got a lot of reviews! Thank you so much to hellokittii, OneHUGEvirginia, EndlessSugar, seddiejathan 1020, gawesome11, Invader Johnny, superchicky97, irishfan62, and PrincessPurpleefor making that happen!:) Also, thank you to all the alerts and favorites I got! There are about three or four chapters left for this story. The next one's going to have a lot of drama, but the good kind! Please leave a review and let me know what you think! I hope to have Chapter Five out soon! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own iCarly.**

**Chapter Word Count: 1,148**

For a minute the trio merely sipped their coffee from the food cart, savoring the warmth and delicious mixture of flavors within it. Ridgeway's coffee was legendary amongst its students, although the rest of the food and drinks it offered were hated and regarded as poison. But for some odd reason, the coffee was absolutely flawless and possessed dangerously high amounts of caffeine. Sam was positive someone slipped drugs into it while no one was watching.

"God, this is good," said Carly after she had drained nearly half of her Styrofoam cup and burnt her tongue twice.

"Mhm," agreed Sam.

Freddie set his down on a desk, knowing that if he continued to drink it he would be incapable of setting it aside (and therefore getting work done) for the rest of the night. "So, who should we test next?"

Carly raised an eyebrow and went to one corner of the room to retrieve something from her bag. "Sam, do you want to go?" She withdrew a sheet of paper and set it on the desk next to the pictures for the experiment, although neither Sam nor Freddie saw it.

"Sure." Sam began to set her coffee down, then rethought her decision and brought it with her.

"'Kay." Carly shuffled the pictures into a stack and handed them to her, slipping an extra one in that escaped Sam's notice.

"The app's running, Sam, go ahead and start," said Freddie, poised at the computer.

"Ham," she said immediately, smiling slight at the first picture of Ridgeway's cafeteria. "Shut up, Benson," she added as she heard him chuckle.

"Whatever." He offered her a smile, which she rolled her eyes at.

The next picture was of a bottle of water. A day at the park came rushing back to her when she was five. It was back when she and Melanie had actually gotten along, and Melanie had sacrificed the final bottle of water for her, because Sam had been running around the whole time they were there, even though she had really wanted it. It was a silly thing to recall or even treasure, but Sam clung to the memory as proof of a time when they had acted as sisters. "The park."

"Pain," she said for the next picture. It was the image of a high-heeled shoe, and as she studied it, she involuntarily glanced down at her own clunky shoes. She wasn't sure why she wore them: they made her stumble as she walked and pinched her toes. Really, the only worthwhile feature of them was the three inches they boosted her height; she knew that bugged Freddie.

"Keep going," said Freddie.

"Three to go," added Carly, ignoring Freddie's confused glance directed at her.

Sam glanced at the next picture and nearly laughed aloud. It was of a Pear Book. "Freddie."

"What?" he asked.

"It's of a laptop. The amount of geekiness in this picture automatically makes me associate it with you, the geekiest thing I know. It's basic psychology."

Freddie made a face at her as he somewhat reluctantly entered the data.

"Just keep going," interrupted Carly eagerly, her eyes bulging as she leaned forward slightly.

Sam rolled her eyes at her but went to the next page. Despite the rusty walls that slammed down around her mind as they detected the danger of revealing emotions, a minute gasp escaped her. No, no, no. How? Why? Oh God, she hadn't felt this feeling since…no. When had that picture been taken?

_Carly was making spaghetti tacos in celebration, and that required cheesy pop music and off-key singing along. Before the lock-in, Sam would have laid on the couch and ignored her requests for help, claiming that she had more important things (like drowning celebrities on reality shows) to worry about. Now, she still sat on the couch, but it was for an entirely different reason. In honor of a week with only three fights, Carly was making dinner for Sam and Freddie as they absently watched television, slightly too caught up in each other to worry as Ginger Fox's body slowly sank to the bottom of the pool._

_Carly kindly pretended that they weren't in the same room as her and clattered dishes as noisily as possible to respect their privacy, something rare for her. Freddie had his arm lightly around her shoulder and was tracing circles on her shoulder with one hand and fiddling with her hair in the other. Sam leaned into him slightly and breathed in and out slowly, finally telling herself that this really was happening, and that Freddie really had managed to care for her. She opened her mouth to say so, but Gibby walked downstairs in his awkward way, his Pear Pad awkwardly blocking his face as he walked directly in front of the television. It was only later that they would learn he was taking pictures._

Despite Gibby's appearance, the memory was a delicate and precious one to her. That was why she hadn't thought about it for nearly eleven months. It would wreck her almost as much as the thought of "I love you," and "I love you, too."

"Sam, are you okay?" Carly's voice cut into her panicked thoughts.

_Play along, _her walls chided, and she obeyed. "Yeah. Um, I associate this with Gibby," she lied.

Carly raised an eyebrow and leaned over Freddie's shoulder to see if the Mood Face app told a different story. _Longing, _it read.

"Why is Sam longing for Gibby?" hissed Freddie, grabbing her wrist tightly.

"I'll explain to you in a minute," she said quickly and twisted free of his grasp. "One more, Sam."

Figuring nothing could be worse than the last picture, she flipped over the last one and closed her eyes, as if that would make the horrifying image go away.

It was of the elevator.

"I-I" she stammered.

"Well?"

"It reminds me of fried chicken, I have to go." Sam ran out of the room, mentally berating herself with each step.

"What was that picture of?" snapped Freddie as the door clanged shut behind Sam.

"Why, what was her mood?"

"In love! In love!"

Carly tore the laptop away from Freddie, unwilling to believe him if her own eyes didn't see the proof as well. Sure enough, the red letters on the laptop almost seemed to smirk, _in love. _"Yes!" she exclaimed to herself.

"Carly! Who is Sam in love with? Tell me!"

"Why should you care, Freddie? Do you care?"

"I-I- I just want to know as her friend," he spluttered.

"Freddie!" Carly grabbed his wrists.

"No! I'm not in love with her!"

She smiled as a look of horror dawned on his face. "I never said you were. But, since you brought it up, you're sure you're not?"

Freddie looked wildly around his surroundings, and then tore away from her towards the stack of pictures on the desk.

**Author's Note: So, will Freddie see the picture of the elevator and realize what this means or will Carly be able to stop him? And, does Freddie still love Sam? (I know the second question's answer is pretty obvious, but that doesn't mean he'll do anything.) Thank you to for their awesome reviews last chapter!**

**I'm sorry this chapter took so long to write. I had writers' block, and then iGoodbye was being filmed and I couldn't focus. I think I'm still in denial about iCarly ending, to be honest. However, I'm also kinda glad it's ending, because it means that we'll have our long-awaited Seddie reunion :)**

**Please review this chapter and let me know what you think. Hopefully I'll have chapter 6 up soon. It's already partially written.**


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